Testosterone link to depression

A study has suggested that older men with lower levels of the male sex hormone testosterone in their
blood may be more prone to depression. women are more likely to be depressed than men until the age of 65,
when the difference between the genders almost disappears.

Testosterone levels decline with age but there are differences among the levels in different men.
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The study took men who were diagnosed as suffering from depression and
found that they had significantly lower levels of both total testosterone,
and free testosterone.

They found those men whose level of free testosterone was in the bottom
20% were three times more likely to be depressed than those in the top 20%.

The study also found a link between poor health and testosterone levels. This
raises the possibility that men with low testosterone levels may be prone
to depression because they are also more likely to be in poor physical health.

Testosterone therapy offers a relatively simple intervention, potentially,
for some groups of older depressives with hypogonadism (low production of sex
hormoProfessor Stafford Lightman, a hormone expert at the University of Bristol, said testosterone potentially had many small effects which could raise the risk of depression. For instance, low levels had been linked to poor cognitive performance.

It is not expected that low levels of testosterone is the only cause of depression
in older men, but it appears to be a contributory factor.